Hey all, I'm new to real estate investing but have been trying to soak up as much knowledge before I go through my first deal. I'm looking to buy a Duplex or Triplex in the Bloomington, IL area and live in one unit and do a House Hack. I recently got pre-approved through a lender for FHA financing with the 3.5 down. I found a property I'm pretty excited about but am wondering what I am missing/what are the biggest blind spots for new investors? Is anyone struggling to find tenants or collect rent because of the COVID Pandemic? What other major concerns should I have while buying my first rental property?
The Multi-Family house I recently found is a Duplex near 2 colleges and at their current asking price seems like a steal. I still need to go and actually look at the property and hopefully try to find out why they're selling.
Hey all, I'm new to real estate investing but have been trying to soak up as much knowledge before I go through my first deal. I'm looking to buy a Duplex or Triplex in the Bloomington, IL area and live in one unit and do a House Hack. I recently got pre-approved through a lender for FHA financing with the 3.5 down. I found a property I'm pretty excited about but am wondering what I am missing/what are the biggest blind spots for new investors? Is anyone struggling to find tenants or collect rent because of the COVID Pandemic? What other major concerns should I have while buying my first rental property?
The Multi-Family house I recently found is a Duplex near 2 colleges and at their current asking price seems like a steal. I still need to go and actually look at the property and hopefully try to find out why they're selling.
Sounds like you are well on your way. In regards to a house hack, two of the main metrics I look at are will it be cash flow positive after I move out, and will it decrease my net effective housing cost compared to renting while I am living in it. The tenant/pandemic situation will be different market to market, but there are lots of markets/landlords that haven't seen an issue collecting rents. None of my tenants have missed any payments. I did see an extended vacancy in one of my units at the beginning of the pandemic when everything was shut down (March 2020). The way to protect against this is to ensure that you can still pay the entire mortgage even if you have no tenant income, whether that be from reserves or income elsewhere (job, other rentals). Realize that your biggest expenses will be vacancies and tenant turnover.